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All Rise...

My name is Judge Daryl Loomis and I approve this review.

The Charge

Hero. Senator. Maverick.

The Case

Born into Naval aristocracy in 1936, John Sidney McCain III had his life
planned from the outset. His grandfather, John, Sr., had attained the rank of
4-star admiral and, while a mere captain when his son was born, John, Jr. would
eventually reach the same level. A Navy brat with an instinctual desire to serve
his country, young McCain entered the U.S. Naval Academy as soon as he could.
Neither the best nor the most conformist student, however, he barely graduated
and, when he did, decided that the life for him was in the clouds. He joined up
with the Navy pilots and enjoyed all the freedom and girls that lifestyle
brings, living the high life for years. These days ended, however, in 1967 when
tragedy struck. On a top-secret bombing mission, McCain was shot down on the
wrong side of the line. After spending the next five years as a prisoner of war
enduring humiliation and torture, he returned home a hero and, eventually, rode
this wave of popularity into the political arena. He entered the House of
Representatives in 1982 with a landslide victory and, in 1988, replaced the
infamous Barry Goldwater in the Senate. Despite both political and personal
scandal, he has maintained his good name with the American people, and ran for
president in the 2000 election. Undeterred by the failure of his campaign, he
has re-emerged in 2008 as the presumptive republican candidate, determined to
continue the G.O.P.'s reign over the White House.

As a Cliff Notes version of John McCain's life, Biography Channel's look at
the Republican Party's presidential hopeful hits all the important notes,
through 2000 at least. Unfortunately, all but the final two minutes are from a
McCain biography made years ago. Upon his failed attempt at the presidency, the
biography stops and the credits roll. Afterward, there is another couple of
minutes as an "update" with footage of the current presidential
election. It is not narrated and, unlike the rest of the piece, is more of a
campaign ad than an information source. The box copy misleads by specifically
promising to follow McCain "…from his transitory naval base childhood
through the 2008 republican primaries." Skipping five years, the entire
primary race, and settling on two clips of Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee saying
that they're throwing in the primary towel is not following anything. It is a
cheap, slapdash attempt to rush a "new" special to street before the
election.

That's not to say that there are no interesting questions raised in the
piece. There are plenty of good questions about our presidential nominee that
fall out of the bio, but the piece doesn't address them at all. I'd like to
know, for instance, how the descendent of two top-flight admirals could have
been put at such intense peril over and over again. It may be that he refused a
desk job for what he felt was more honest service; I'd like more information.
More than that, I would like a more complete account of his inclusion with the
Keating 5 and the senate hearings that followed. As it stands, there is little
more than a dismissal of his guilt and a series of quotes about how the hearings
were more taxing on him than his time at the Hanoi Hilton. It's clearly much
worse to sit through an investigation of your own wrongdoing than to be tortured
in an enemy country. But this scandal and all the others are as glossy as
glossed-over can get, and a more rigorous, honest discussion would have been
welcome. More than anything, however, the major question that comes from this
piece is why John McCain's rhetoric today is so much different, so much more
conformist, so much more divisive than when these clips were filmed. Clearly,
it's because he wants to appeal to his party base and win a presidency, but he
has so deeply undermined the principles that brought him to this place. Anyone
used to McCain's style now will not recognize the man on the TV. Alas, maybe in
a better documentary this like this will get addressed.

The video and audio quality vary with the source material and the transfer
is consistent with the television broadcast. The quality of the piece is
consistent with Biography Channel's other programs. It gives a rosy view of its
subject and is not made for people who want to learn anything substantive about
the man. Not just in this case, all of these biographies are made for those who
want only to worship at the altar of the subject. Not journalism and not
documentary filmmaking, these pieces are valuable for a Junior High Social
Studies course and little else.